Kris Dunn didn't have to push Jalen Williams in the back.
In the aftermath of Williams' gruesome leg injury on Sunday night as the Oklahoma City Thunder took on the Los Angeles Clippers, Dunn emerged as the obvious person to blame.
The Clippers' veteran guard, known as a defensive-minded, hard-nosed player, found himself trailing Williams on a drive to the basket.
As Williams rose up, Dunn put his left forearm into Williams' back. There was a bit of jump from Dunn as if to chase down the ball, but that was never happening.
The Clippers' Derrick Jones Jr. leaped from the basket side of the play, a logical block attempt. Dunn's play was far less likely to do anything to help the Clippers win the game.
There is a point to be made that NBA players somewhat often commit fouls to stop the other team from getting an easy basket. That's what Dunn, in essence, was trying to do.
It's unlikely that in that split-second of this play that Dunn thought at all about whether his action would lead to an injury.
It just looks much worse because it did.
We're not going to share the video here because of the gruesome angle that Williams' leg ends up turned, but it's easy enough to find.
The reality is that Dunn gained himself no friends, and added plenty of enemies, no matter what his intention was on this play.
Part of what frustrated Thunder fans is that Dunn had already made a questionable play against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander earlier in the game.
SGA was on a fastbreak, and rather than contest his shot from the side, Dunn instead slid underneath Gilgeous-Alexander's hip to throw him off balance.
In some ways it was a crafty veteran move, but in others it was increasing injury risk for another opposing player.
There are basketball plays, and there are non-basketball plays. Dunn found himself making a few of the latter on Sunday night.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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